Mercenaries in India

Mercenaries in India were fighters, primarily peasants, who came from India and abroad, to fight for local rulers in India in the medieval period. This mercenary work became an important source of income for some communities.

During the 16th and 17th centuries, a number of mercenaries, arriving from several countries found employment in India. Some of the mercenaries emerged to become independent or independent rulers.

In southern India, there is a caste/community of mercenaries in the state of Karnataka which is called Bunt, The word "bunt" itself translates to Warrior/Mercenary, this community later elevated itself as the rulers of the land, several powerful dynasties emerged from this community, The most notable dynasty being the Alupas of Dakshina kannada, which reigned for 1300 years straight, This community still survives and has adopted the surnames shetty, Rai, Alva, chowta etc. In down south Tamil Nadu, the three crowned empires used Kongar pastro-peasantry tribes of Kongunad region and Kongar peasantry tribes of Erumainad region as their sword man mercenaries or as cavalry mercenaries or as chariot soldier mercenaries and also recruited as personal guards. Kongars worked along with their warrior kallar, maravar, Aghamudaiyar, Parkavar, Valaiya-Mutharaiyar and Mazhavar tribes. But during the time of action these kongar tribes were led only by the Chiefs of their own tribe and would not come under the command of the emperor/ his military General. Though these Kongar tribes of Kongunad were feudatories to the three crowned empires, kongunad was divided into 24 sub divisions and was only ruled by Kongars. But the Kongars (Gangars) of Erumainad established their own empire 'The Western Ganga dynasty' and ruled over it for centuries. Kongar tribes still exist in modern days they are referred as Kongu Vellala Gounder (Kongunadu) and Gangadhikar Vokkaliga Gowda (Erumainad).

Purbiyas

In the medieval period, Purbiya mercenaries from Bihar and Eastern Uttar Pradesh were a common feature in Kingdoms in Western and Northern India. They were also later recruited by the Marathas and the British. They also played a prominent role in the Indian Rebellion of 1857.

African mercenaries in India

The Siddi (pronounced ɪd̪d̪iː, also known as Sidi, Siddhi, Sheedi, or Habshi, are an ethnic group inhabiting India and Pakistan. Some were merchants, sailors, indentured servants, slaves and mercenaries. The Habshi or Siddis are thought to have arrived in India in 628 AD at the Bharuch port. Several others followed with the first Arab Islamic conquest of the subcontinent in 712 AD. The latter group are believed to have been soldiers with Muhammad bin Qasim's Arab army, and were called Zanjis.

Some Siddis escaped slavery to establish communities in forested areas, and some also established the small Siddi principalities of Janjira State on Janjira Island and Jafarabad State in Kathiawar as early as the twelfth century. A former alternative name of Janjira was Habshan (i.e., land of the Habshis). In the Delhi Sultanate period prior to the rise of the Mughals in India, Jamal-ud-Din Yaqut was a prominent Siddi slave-turned-nobleman who was a close confidant of Razia Sultana (1205–1240 CE). Although this is disputed, he may also have been her lover, but contemporary sources do not indicate that this was necessarily the case.

Siddis were also brought as slaves by the Deccan Sultanates. Several former slaves rose to high ranks in the military and administration, the most prominent of which was Malik Ambar.

European mercenaries in India

Thousands of Europeans took up service at the courts of rulers all over India. These mercenaries for the most part came from the margins of their respective societies. During the first war between Bahamani Sultanate and Vijayanagara Empire, launched in 1365 by Muhammad Shah I, both sides imported their artillery guns and employed Turkish and European gunners to man them.

European mercenaries served in the courts of Indian rulers for 300 years, beginning with the large-scale defections of soldiers from Portuguese Goa in the 16th century, followed by a series of defections of British soldiers and laymen from the British East India Company bridgehead at Surat in the 17th century. During Portuguese explorer Vasco da Gama's first historic journey to India in 1498, he observed that there were Italian mercenaries in the employ of various '' Rajahs'' on the Malabar coast. Two of da Gama's own crewmen had left him to join the Italians in the service of a Malabar ''Rajah'' for higher wages.

Portuguese historian João de Barros stated that there were at least 2,000 Portuguese fighting in the armies of various Indian princes in 1565. Among these mercenaries included the indigenous Goan Christian and Bombay East Indian Christian soldiers and sailors. The Mahratta ruler Shivaji employed many Portuguese and hundreds of Goans and Bombay East Indians in his navy, until they were persuaded by the colonial authorities in Goa to desert. They were generally sought after as artillery experts by the Moghuls and Marathas. When the Mughals complained to the Portuguese viceroy António de Melo e Castro, about the Portuguese soldiers serving under the Marathas, the latter responded with a letter stating that he had no control over the Portuguese and native Christian officers in Shivaji's army, just as he had no control over the mercenaries serving in the Mughal and other armies.

During the reign of Mughal Emperor Shah Jahan, so many Europeans took up service at the Mughal Army that a distinct suburb was built for them outside Delhi named Firingipura (Foreigners' Town). Its inhabitants included Portuguese, French and English mercenaries, many of whom had converted to Islam. These mercenaries formed a special ''Firingi'' (Foreigners') regiment, under the command of a Frenchman named Farrashish Khan. Shah Alam II gave the German mercenary Walter Reinhardt Sombre a large estate in the Doab, north of Delhi. Sombre settled in the estate with his wife Farzana Zeb un-Nissa, also known as Begum Samru, and made the village of Sardhana his capital. The ruling class of this principality was drawn from an assortment of Mughal noblemen, and 200 French Indian and Central European mercenaries, many of whom had converted to Islam. Sombre was succeeded after his death by his wife who took command of his mercenary troops and became the ruler of Sardhana, earning the distinction of being the only Roman Catholic ruler in India. Among these mercenaries was John-Augustus Gottlieb Cohen, a German Jewish mercenary who was the father of Urdu

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